Practice principals go it alone on marketing

The second Slice survey for 2014 – an initiative of consultants Peter Dawson of The Dawson Partnership and Susan Rochester of Balance at Work – found that 83 per cent of respondents had a marketing plan in place, but 73 per cent of those indicated they had developed and implemented the plan alone or with a business partner.

Of those with a plan, a further 47 per cent indicated assistance from a practice development manager, while 33 per cent used a business coach and 13 per cent used an “independent marketing specialist”, the survey revealed, adding that “percentages added may exceed 100 since a participant may select more than one answer for this question”.

In addition, 53 per cent of respondents said the marketing plan had “opened up new opportunities”, with 50 per cent saying they would be open to an external coach.

“Up until a few years ago our marketing plan was pretty rudimentary but as time has gone by we have adopted a more structured approach with regular marketing planning and review meetings that we hold each quarter,” said one anonymous survey respondent, described as a “principal of an SME financial planning practice”.

“This has helped us keep a focus on our marketing campaign making sure it remains relevant to our business and helps us achieve our goals,” the respondent said.